


special little birthday surprises

by crystalklances



Series: Little Lance AU [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Fluff, Inspired by Fanart, M/M, Mutual Pining, Shy Lance (Voltron), Smitten Keith (Voltron), Soft Keith (Voltron), Tooth-Rotting Fluff, set in season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 11:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16386803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalklances/pseuds/crystalklances
Summary: It's Keith's birthday. While Little Red receives a surprise party, Keith receives an unexpected message from the boy he loves.





	special little birthday surprises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Raiyakun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raiyakun/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, Keith! Just like I did with Lance, this year, I wrote a little fic based in the [Little Lance AU](https://raiyakun.tumblr.com/tagged/little+lance%21%21) by Raiyakun!! most especially, [the art they did for Keith's birthday last year](https://raiyakun.tumblr.com/post/166949453694/im-so-sorry-its-so-late-but-happy-birthday).
> 
> But even if this is written for the occasion of Keith's birthday, most of all, this is for you, Raiya. I hope it can make you smile even just a little. I'm wishing you lots and lots of good things and happiness.

It was Keith’s birthday soon.

Lance only found out by chance; Keith had never mentioned about it since they had all arrived at the Castle of Lions, and even back at the Garrison, it had stayed a secret. No, it wasn’t through any word of mouth. It was when he opened the Little Lance (or should he say Little Keith) app on his space phone to check up on Little Red that a notification popped up.

 _Little Keith’s special day is tomorrow!_ , it said in cheerful letters.

Lance stared at it with his eyebrows raised and lips parted in surprise. Then, he frowned. If it was Little Keith’s special day, which had to mean birthday, it had to mean it was also Big Keith’s birthday, right? Tapping into the notification said that it was on October 23. Which the notification said was _tomorrow_. Lance didn’t have a gift for Keith, nor did he think that he would be able to find one.

Not that he would be able to give it in the first place. Because Keith had left the team to go on special missions with the Blade of Marmora.

Admittedly, it had hurt a lot when Keith had left. But the fact that he still had Little Red to take care of and play with helped him cope with the feelings of loneliness and separation. Because Little Red _was_ Keith—just a lot more tiny, with angry chipmunk squeaking instead of a nice, gravelly voice, and even more expressive and open with what was on his mind, considering the Little Lance and Little Keith game was like taking care of children.

Well, there was also the fact that Little Red was _virtual_ unlike Big Keith, but that was a sidenote.

He closed the notification with a tap of his finger and checked into Little Red’s room to see what he’d been up to. He spotted the little one sulking in the corner, his back turned to the screen. But even without seeing Little Red’s face, Lance could tell by the way the cat ears of his red paladin hooded cape drooped as well as the sulky cartoon effect around his head.

Lance smiled softly. He wasn’t the only one who had been sad ever since Keith’s departure. After all, Keith had also taken his own space phone with him, including Little Blue. Little Red still had the other paladins’ Little Lances to play with, but it had always been clear that Little Blue was the most special to him. Being a child and prone to sulky moods, Little Red was a lot more obvious about the separation affecting him. It was for that reason as well that Lance had to be strong. After all, he was the only one to take care of Little Keith.

Softly, he said, “Hey, Little Red!”

There was a cartoony exclamation mark and not a second later, Little Red shuffled over like an eager puppy to greet Lance. Even if Little Red was missing Little Blue, he remained as enthusiastic as ever about _Lance_ himself. He knew that the Little Lances, Little Blue especially, were the exact same way with Keith. Admittedly, it had made him freak out the first time he found out about it; after all, his giant crush on Keith was something he’d been trying hard to hide. He also tried hard not to read too much into the way Little Red acted towards him and the Little Lances. There was no way Big Keith had a crush on him, right? It was just a gimmick of the game, right? It didn’t mean anything, he was just reading into it too much.

The small beep of the “hungry” status bar brought Lance’s thoughts back on track. He smiled apologetically. “Sorry I’m only checking in now, Coran’s keeping us really busy with alliance stuff all the time.” He tapped the food icon and selected a pepperoni pizza after hovering his finger over the menu for a split second. “Here you go! I hope it’s a yummy pizza!”

It seemed to be good to Little Red as he started eating the moment Lance offered the food. Lance smiled down at the screen as he watched Little Red eat but inevitably, his eyes were also caught by the state of the room.

Lance held back a frown. He still didn’t have a lot of special toys for Little Red. To his defense, he had gotten the game a lot later than the others, and they had already gotten it later than Keith, who had been the first one to have the game, ever. But Lance felt bad because he’d mostly been buying the regular items while saving up his GAC, indecisive on which special items to buy first. Even if Little Red was a lot more subtle about his wishes for toys or special food, Lance wanted to spoil him.

And then it hit him. If it was Keith’s birthday tomorrow, this was the perfect opportunity. He could make up for not spoiling Little Red enough before. He would give Little Red a perfect little birthday party. If he already couldn’t give a gift to Big Keith, he could do at least that.

He had enough GAC saved up to go all out. He would hit the game’s shop the moment Little Red was asleep. After all, it was supposed to be a surprise.

 

Lance had never been gladder to have a free day. He was gonna spend it holed up in his room, knowing that he would be left alone. His presence today was reserved for Little Red only.

He hadn’t told anyone else about Keith’s birthday. After all, he figured that Keith wouldn’t want people to know if he didn’t share it himself. Though maybe, just maybe, he was a little selfish in wanting to be the only one on the Castle to give Little Red attention on his special day, at least for now.

That, and he didn’t want to end up with an emotional outburst in front of everyone _especially_ considering his feelings for Keith. Even if Little Lance had already made it plain for everyone to see.

He had made sure to prepare everything while Little Red was sleeping the previous night. And he had also made sure to be awake before Little Red; having the game open with the space phone resting on one thigh as he was sitting on the bed with his legs crossed, waiting for the signal that the little one was waking up. He was staring down at the screen while tapping his fingers on his other thigh.

Thankfully, there was no chance for impatience to get too much. It wasn’t long before a small beep sounded and Little Red was sitting up in his bed with a yawn.

Lance grinned and activated the party effects he had set up. “Happy birthday, Little Red!”

Little Red stared up at him with wide eyes and the _shocked_ -emote blinking over his head just for a second.

Lance chuckled apologetically. “Guess I overdid it with the element of surprise, huh? Should’ve given you a chance to wake up properly.” His smile softened. “I prepared some treats and special gifts for you. I… I really wanted to spoil you for your special day.”

Another moment passed with Little Red blinking up at him but finally, he jumped down from the bed to shuffle into the center of the room where Lance had prepared the strawberry birthday cake and a smiling red cat balloon floating on a string just a bit above Little Red’s height.

Lance smiled at Little Red’s curious eyes. Opening a menu, he said, “It’s not a proper birthday party without a party hat!” Not a second later, a red and white striped triangle hat was placed on top of Little Red’s hood. _So cute_. Lance continued, “Are you ready for your first gift?”

Little Red nodded and that was all the sign Lance needed to pull out the purple hippo plush doll from the inventory. The happy emote he received in reaction made him giddy. But that was just the beginning.

He opened the inventory once more to pull out the main gift: a kitty plush doll of himself. Offering it to Little Red with a smile, he said, “Now you can match with Little Blue!”

The way Little Red’s purple eyes shined brightly with excitement as he was holding the plushie close filled Lance’s heart with nothing but affection. It was then that he knew, he had to keep giving his little one everything he could, just to make sure he would always be this happy, feel so loved.

Blinking back a tear, he laughed softly to make sure his voice wouldn’t give out on him, choked up on emotion as he was. “I also got some strawberry milkshake for you! It’s your birthday, so you can have all the treats you want!”

He pulled it from the menu to hold it up in front of Little Red. He was rewarded with Little Red emoting hearts so unabashedly while his wide eyes continued to shine brighter than Lance had ever seen, more precious than any diamond.

He lost track of time as he watched Little Red drink the milkshake and eat the birthday cake, all while hugging the kitty Lance plushie close, then together played all the mini-games the app had to offer for the little ones.

When he finally closed the game when Little Red needed a nap, still hugging the plushies close as he fell asleep, Lance’s chest felt heavy with love and longing all at the same time.

***

It was with a drawn-out sigh that Keith closed the door to his room on the Marmora base ship behind himself as he could finally retire for the night. He let himself fall down on the simple bed and reached out for his space phone on the night table.

He had had to turn it off completely sometime before lunchtime _and_ keep it in his room _just to be safe_. There usually weren’t any issues, but today, there had been a… ruckus. Because Little Blue just wouldn’t stop squeak-singing Happy Birthday for Keith, even when he had the app closed and the phone in his pocket with the screen deactivated.

Keith still had no idea how Little Blue had even found out it was his birthday, but just thinking back to his eager, cheerful squeak-singing made his insides well up with affection. He hated having to shut Little Blue down like that but, well, it wasn’t exactly helpful on stealth missions, even if just in simulation to train. And getting in trouble with Kolivan—or worse, Kolivan talking badly about Little Blue—wasn’t something Keith wanted to deal with on his own birthday.

When the device was finally done booting up, Keith was ready to open the Little Lance game again right away, to give Little Blue all the attention and love he deserved and Keith could possibly give. But instead, he was met with a notification of a missed call.

Keith blinked in surprise. Usually, he didn’t receive any private calls. If anyone needed him for something or had a message for him, they’d do an official call to the Marmora base. His surprise only heightened when he saw that it was a missed video call.

 _A video call from Lance_.

His heart skipped a beat. He was dying to know why Lance would’ve tried to video call him _in private_ in the middle of missions. And there was only one way to find out.

He opened the notification to see if Lance might’ve left a video message, similar to a voice mail. _He had_.

Keith’s heart skipped another beat as the video started and he was greeted with Lance’s face, Lance’s adorable, _beautiful_ face, smiling shyly at him.

“ _Uh, hi, Keith!_ ,” Lance’s voice rang through the speaker. “ _You’re probably wondering why I’m trying to call you. Honestly, I’m not really sure why I’m doing this, but here I am._ ” A nervous giggle. “ _I, well… I found out through Little Red that it’s your birthday, so I..._ ” He trailed off, rubbing the back of his head with one hand before he caught himself to continue speaking. “ _Well… I can’t give you a gift, but I wanted to give you a birthday wish at least, so, here you go! Happy birthday, Keith!_ ” Lance’s smile grew wider, still shy, but nothing but sincere, only heightened by his eyes shining with warmth. “ _I hope you’re doing well out there. Take care and come back soon! We, I… I miss you._ ” The last part was barely above a whisper. Keith’s heart clenched at the way Lance’s face fell into sadness. The expression was gone with another giggle. “ _Well, uh, that’s all! I know you must be busy out there, so I don’t want to keep your attention too much. You don’t have to react either, I just… I just wanted to tell you._ ” The briefest pause. “So, yeah! Keep doing your best, see you soon!”

The message cut off and Keith stared at the screen, the messenger app still open. Before he could think about what he was doing, he selected to call back. He felt too full to burst, _too far away_ from Lance.

Staring at the screen, waiting for the call to connect was near-torturous. He was _almost_ ready to give up, _almost_ slipped into anxiety and overthinking, but just at the last second, the call was answered. He was greeted with a very sleepy-looking, _very adorable_ Lance blinking at the screen, rubbing at his eyes with one hand while his sleep mask was pulled up on top of his sleep-tousled hair. Keith wished he could reach out to smoothen the curls, wished he could lean in to kiss Lance’s scrunched up, _adorable_ upturned nose.

“ _...Keith…?_ ”

Barely able to hold back the affectionate chuckle, Keith said, “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“ _No, no, it’s fine! I didn’t—I wasn’t sleeping!_ ” Lance scrambled to say in reply, his hand now dropped from his eye and making a show of totally-not-being-half-asleep.

Keith ignored his urge to tease, to make Lance even more flustered until he was nothing but a blushing, stuttering mess. Instead, he opted for sincerity, to go straight to the point of why he called. “I just saw your video message and I had to see you.”

It seemed that this made Lance blush anyway, though it might just be the near-darkness of Lance’s room on the castle ship. Either way, Keith indulged himself in thinking that he made Lance blush. “ _Oh._ ”

Keith continued, “I didn’t expect anything at all, so it was a nice surprise. Thank you for thinking of me and taking the time to call.”

Lance smiled at the other end of the screen. “ _Of course! I couldn’t give you a gift, so wishing you happy birthday was the least I could do._ ”

“Hearing your voice and getting to see your face was already all the gift I needed,” Keith said before he could stop himself.

He was so sure that Lance _definitely_ was blushing now, judging by the way his eyes widened and his lips parted in surprise, but so obvious that he wasn’t _put off_. Once again, it fueled Keith’s hope that he could successfully court Lance, hopefully not too far in the future.

It took a second for Lance to speak again. “ _Well, that’s, that’s good! I’m also happy I got to see you now. I, I mean, it’s not like I was sad or disappointed when you didn’t answer my call or anything!_ ”

This time, Keith couldn’t hold back the chuckle. “Of course, of course.” He smiled at the screen, so sure that his affection was spelled all over his face, plain to read like an open book. “Clearly, you’re so tired that your words get all mixed up. You should go back to sleep.”

“ _It’s fine, I’m not tired. It’s you who should sleep, I bet you had tons of training today. We just had a day off, I’m not tired._ ” But his words were betrayed by a yawn he couldn’t stifle.

Keith laughed while Lance made the most adorable whining sound at him. “Go back to sleep, Lance.”

“ _Fine._ ” Lance huffed. Then, he smiled. “ _I’m glad you’re doing fine, Keith._ ”

For the second time that night, Keith found himself too full to burst. _I love you._ That’s what he wanted to say so badly. But he wouldn’t, not yet, not like this. Not when he couldn’t hold Lance in his arms, couldn’t hold his hand, couldn’t kiss him gently, pouring all the love he felt into his every touch and gesture.

Instead, he said, “I’m glad you’re doing fine, too. Sleep well, Lance. I’ll see you soon.”

“ _Good night, Keith. And…_ ” Lance’s smile grew, filling with warmth. “ _Happy Birthday, again!_ ”

“Thank you, Lance. Sweet dreams.”

The call was ended, and Keith stared at the screen, smiling from ear to ear. God, he _missed_ Lance. Just hearing his voice through the speaker, seeing his face through the screen, it did so much to fuel his motivation, feed the fire burning strongly inside him.

Ever since his dad had died, birthdays had been lonely to Keith, not really mattering to him. That’s why he had never bothered to tell anyone. But right now, he couldn’t have been happier. Even if he was a little disappointed that it had to be when he was gone with the Blade of Marmora while Lance was at the Castle of Lions, doing his duty as a Paladin of Voltron.

Another moment passed but finally, Keith checked up on Little Blue, his affection only increasing as he watched the little one greet him excitedly, still squeak-singing for him with his little voice. After he made sure that Little Blue was well cared for and eventually fast asleep, he hesitated for a second before he opened the messenger app once more.

He watched Lance’s video message, over and over, until his eyes finally fell shut and he drifted off with a smile on his face.

It was the best birthday he had had in years.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/crystalklances), [tumblr](https://crystalklances.tumblr.com) and [instagram](https://instagram.com/crystalklances) where you can find out about different ways you can support me!


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